Polaris Appreciation III

[blanchett]

You know, this morning I find myself thinking a lot about how many people around here talk about how "bad" it would be for Lorna to be on a more popular book alongside characters like Emma Frost or Wolverine. They're going under the idea that by simply being around more popular characters, she'll be overshadowed and unused. On another site, this is also a justification I saw someone make for her staying in space.

I disagree with this assertion, and I view it as a lack of faith in the character and her potential being good and worth attention. It implies that no matter how she's written, no matter what the writer focuses on, it's impossible for her to garner interest by readers on her own merits. Such thinking, I believe, demolishes opportunities for her. It bars her from taking part in events where she'd be a perfect fit, or taking on a role or relationship where she'd add a hell of a lot to the table, solely because Marvel hasn't given her any chances to become popular like they did with many other women.

I also hate this thinking because I see it in almost everything when it comes to underappreciated characters. Every time a character comes up that's at the time only a minor/support character, any suggestion that the character become a major and important character is met with negativity or even downright hatred. BUT, in every single case I've seen, as soon as the company in control of the character actually braves that extra step to make that character major and important, the majority attitude becomes the exact opposite of how it looked before. People that used to talk about how "bad" it would be for the character to become popular and important suddenly start talking about how the character always deserved that opportunity from the very start, and they act like they always felt that way about the character.

A good example of this is Makoto from the Blazblue video game series (and don't worry, I'm aware many/most of the people here probably don't know or care about it, it's just a good example :P ). When the first Blazblue game came out, Makoto was a minor NPC. Suggestions that she become playable and more important to the story were met with endless pessimism. "We already have two female characters that came from the same place," or "We already have a character that's part animal, we don't need more," or "we've never seen any indication she can fight, what weapon would she even use?" Then the development team made Makoto into downloadable content for the second Blazblue game, using tonfas and in a whole new costume. Now, Makoto gets the second highest amount of fanart drawn of her, and almost every discussion about Blazblue heavily involves how "awesome" she is. I've even seen threads about Blazblue derailed to being solely about Makoto.

But if the Blazblue development team followed the same logic of people who think Lorna shouldn't be on a big name title with popular characters, Makoto would still be a relatively unknown minor NPC that only gets one piece of fanart every six months.

So no, I don't think Lorna "has" to be on a book with characters that are lower on the totem pole than she currently is, or that she "has" to be around Alex to garner interest. I think what she really needs is to be around the A-list characters but written often and well enough that she stands out of her own accord. Lorna was fighting alongside the likes of Wolverine earlier this decade. Despite the dislike some people have toward that run, people remember her presence. If she was on a different book that whole time, I guarantee she would not have garnered as much attention. Some forum users probably wouldn't be here, either.

I have no problem with Lorna in a book with more popular characters if it makes sense for her to go there. Right now it doesn't. It would make no sense for her to join the Uncanny team. Her partner and her friends are in X-Factor. Magneto would be the only factor for her to side with Scott's side and they are definately estranged. He's a mass murderer. She compared their relationship to Stockholm syndrome at one point. I think it makes more sense for her to use the X-Factor team to investigate what happened to her mother. From what I've been told by one of my adoptive friends who is part of an adopted child group, traditionally they put more emphasis on the biological mother than the father.

[salarta]

I have no problem with Lorna in a book with more popular characters if it makes sense for her to go there. Right now it doesn't. It would make no sense for her to join the Uncanny team. Her partner and her friends are in X-Factor. Magneto would be the only factor for her to side with Scott's side and they are definately estranged. He's a mass murderer. She compared their relationship to Stockholm syndrome at one point. I think it makes more sense for her to use the X-Factor team to investigate what happened to her mother. From what I've been told by one of my adoptive friends who is part of an adopted child group, traditionally they put more emphasis on the biological mother than the father.

Maybe I'm naive or ignorant as a relatively new reader to X-men comics and as someone that isn't really reading anything except Legacy, but I think whether or not Lorna fits in a particular book is dependent entirely on how she's written.

I don't think her biological mother will be explored in X-Factor. Or if it is, it won't be touched on very much. I'd like it to be, but it doesn't seem very likely with Havok as the leader and Polaris chosen as one of the last people to reveal for the team.

Lorna comparing her relationship to her father with Stockholm syndrome depends on when it was said, the circumstances, and the writer that wrote the line for her. I don't know any of that because I don't recall the line. If it was quite a while back, well, I'd note the Rogue and Magneto relationship here and how Rogue's feelings for him changed over time.



As long as I'm posting this, I read this news article and thought of it as something perhaps Lorna could do as a difference between her and Magneto power-wise.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...-transparency/

[jmc247]

Maybe I'm naive or ignorant as a relatively new reader to X-men comics and as someone that isn't really reading anything except Legacy, but I think whether or not Lorna fits in a particular book is dependent entirely on how she's written.

I don't think her biological mother will be explored in X-Factor. Or if it is, it won't be touched on very much. I'd like it to be, but it doesn't seem very likely with Havok as the leader and Polaris chosen as one of the last people to reveal for the team.

Lorna comparing her relationship to her father with Stockholm syndrome depends on when it was said, the circumstances, and the writer that wrote the line for her. I don't know any of that because I don't recall the line. If it was quite a while back, well, I'd note the Rogue and Magneto relationship here and how Rogue's feelings for him changed over time.

One thing I would recommend for you Salarta is that you find a way to read old Polaris issues either by signing up to Marvel.com for digital comics or picking up back issues. If you want to get into detailed rants about the character it's very helpful to have say read alot of the runs we are discussing. As for the quote Blanchett is talking about in Uncanny 443 Lorna said that Xavier's X-Men and the Acolytes both operate as a type of stockholm syndrome.

Also, Blanchett neglects the fact Magneto is leading nothing right now. So, this isn't a question of if Lorna agrees with Alex or Magneto. It should be a question of if she agrees with Scott or Wolverine more as they are the leaders. It shouldn't be a question of emotional attachment to her boyfriend or her father.

And, it remains to be seen if Magneto is against the new X-Factor as if it crosses over with Children's Crusade like PAD said it would it will likely be about finding and repowering mutants. I don't think Magneto has a problem with X-Force either even though they are Wolverine's team.

[salarta]

You're right, and that's one of the things I feel bad about, that I haven't read whole, complete runs of the character yet aside from things since 2009. Just disjointed issues from various points in her history. I keep forgetting that signing up to Marvel.com is an option for reading all the back issues instead of hoping I get lucky with big compilation books (I bought a black and white one of X-men 1 to 50 just because Lorna was at the end of it) and the occasional physical copy issue or two.

Plus a few I was able to buy individually for my PSP.

My post was more about my newness in actual, real world years, though. I need to read all the full runs in chronological order so I can get a much better sense of her progression by decade and by arcs, but I'm still brand new to reading Marvel comics, and there are undoubtedly some things about how Marvel's fictional universe operates that will take time to really sink in for me. I've learned this from how many new people to video games series I've loved since I was a child don't really see all the things that are important about the series, can't even begin to imagine the circumstances behind why a game turned out a certain way when it was first made, etc. There are some things that you can't learn simply by reading a lot of text, you'll only understand them through experience over time, and I still need more of that.



Also... I keep bypassing this bit, but jmc, you've been mentioning that Children's Crusade is going to cross over with X-Factor a lot. If Lorna is on X-Factor, and she's there during Children's Crusade and Wanda interacts with Lorna, then it would be a huge HUGE shift in development. I remember a year ago, we were all talking about how Children's Crusade was ignoring Lorna as a family member, and Brevoort's quotes that more or less said we'd never, ever see Lorna and Wanda interact while he was running things on the Avengers side. Especially not within Children's Crusade. If that stance has changed, and Lorna will actually get that chance to interact with Wanda, then it's a wonderful sign of progress from Marvel in making use of Lorna's potential. That alone would be a big reason for me to have to apologize about too hastily judging her being put on X-Factor. And I will happily do so if it comes to pass. :)

[Mitteloss]

The X-Men #255 prview should be up today! I hope the stuff we saw as being labeled from #256 is actually in #255 so the pacing is a bit faster and Lorna stops being mind-controlled so she has real precious panel time with Magneto.

[jmc247]

You're right, and that's one of the things I feel bad about, that I haven't read whole, complete runs of the character yet aside from things since 2009. Just disjointed issues from various points in her history. I keep forgetting that signing up to Marvel.com is an option for reading all the back issues instead of hoping I get lucky with big compilation books (I bought a black and white one of X-men 1 to 50 just because Lorna was at the end of it) and the occasional physical copy issue or two.

Plus a few I was able to buy individually for my PSP.

My post was more about my newness in actual, real world years, though. I need to read all the full runs in chronological order so I can get a much better sense of her progression by decade and by arcs, but I'm still brand new to reading Marvel comics, and there are undoubtedly some things about how Marvel's fictional universe operates that will take time to really sink in for me. I've learned this from how many new people to video games series I've loved since I was a child don't really see all the things that are important about the series, can't even begin to imagine the circumstances behind why a game turned out a certain way when it was first made, etc. There are some things that you can't learn simply by reading a lot of text, you'll only understand them through experience over time, and I still need more of that.

Also... I keep bypassing this bit, but jmc, you've been mentioning that Children's Crusade is going to cross over with X-Factor a lot. If Lorna is on X-Factor, and she's there during Children's Crusade and Wanda interacts with Lorna, then it would be a huge HUGE shift in development. I remember a year ago, we were all talking about how Children's Crusade was ignoring Lorna as a family member, and Brevoort's quotes that more or less said we'd never, ever see Lorna and Wanda interact while he was running things on the Avengers side. Especially not within Children's Crusade. If that stance has changed, and Lorna will actually get that chance to interact with Wanda, then it's a wonderful sign of progress from Marvel in making use of Lorna's potential. That alone would be a big reason for me to have to apologize about too hastily judging her being put on X-Factor. And I will happily do so if it comes to pass. :)

Yes, please there is a time to rant and yell at Marvel and there is a time to wait and see and there is no doubt in my mind this is a hopeful time to wait and see how things go.

[jmc247]

The X-Men #255 prview should be up today! I hope the stuff we saw as being labeled from #256 is actually in #255 so the pacing is a bit faster and Lorna stops being mind-controlled so she has real precious panel time with Magneto.

I hope that as well as it's clear they likely won't have much time after.

Things are sure to get 'interesting' here when we find out Lorna's return home outfit.

[Justin K.]

Time for a new costume!!!!! (sorry I had to say it!)

Nothing all green!

[coveredinbees]

No clothes! Green body paint

[azizou57]

[infernohara]

Simply amazing. I also love the Daisy duke shorts!!

[jmc247]

Nothing all green!

I have the suspicion you have a good shot of getting your wish.

[salarta]

No clothes! Green body paint

Yes, green body paint! COVERED IN BEES.

Lovely! Thanks for sharing.

I have the suspicion you have a good shot of getting your wish.

More like the insider information and images, no doubt. :P

Edit: Since I've been having bad luck with things I say getting misinterpreted lately, want to add that that last line was a joke.

[zulu]

I wonder if any of the current writers wanted to write Polaris without her other half. Or if that ever happens where a writer says something like "I want Polaris on my team. Just Polaris."

[jmc247]

More like the insider information and images, no doubt. :P

No insider information, it's simply they revamped Havok's outfit a bit and all green seemingly wouldn't fit well with the outfits of the rest of the cast.